Global Warming

Climate change and Earth's Boreal Forests

Boreal forests cover the northernmost regions of Canada, Russia, Alaska, and Scandinavia, and make up about 30 percent of the planet’s total forest area. But now experts say that they are being threatened by warmer temperatures brought on by climate change.

The boreal forest, which is sometimes called by its Russian name “the taiga,” is a belt of coniferous trees that sprawl across North America and Eurasia. Lying atop formerly glaciated areas and places with patchy permafrost, these forests are subject to varying environmental conditions.

Although he boreal forests remain largely intact, they face the most severe expected temperature increases anywhere on Earth. Some parts of Siberia are likely to eventually become 11 C warmer. That will bring greater precipitation, but not enough to compensate for the dryness caused by hotter weather. A drier boreal will suffer new diseases, insect infestations and vast wildfires.

The forests can't go so far to the north. The speed at which forests can move forward is very slow, about 100 metres a decade.